Category Archives: New Jersey Help for Family Caregivers

Long Term Care – Keep Out of Nursing Homes NJ

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Expert Home Care in New Jersey at 800-848-2336 – We introduce Mr. Michael FitzPatrick, Managing Partner, The LTC  Partnership, LLC -

Michael FitzPatrick reminds us why women need to pay close attention to planning for their future.. the long term care future.  He asks a provocative question…  ”When visiting nursing homes in America, what do you see? More specifically WHO do you see in nursing homes?”

Thinking back when visiting my dad living with Alzheimer’s, I remember seeing more women.  “Why do you suppose that is?”, asks Michael FitzPatrick. 

We can only assume why there are more women in nursing homes is because women out live their mates, and we don’t plan for our on future. “Men”, as Michael shared, “don’t plan for their future…, why do you think?” Michael believes it’s because most men KNOW they will be taken care of by their family.. usually the wife first, and then the adult children.

Reasons there is a disproportionate number of women in nursing homes -

  • Women live no longer
  • Family is no longer close to provide care for aging relative
  • Increasing number of women remain single and childless
  • Women have no financial plan in place

2008 Statistics on Long Term Care for Women

  • Average life expectancy is 84
  • Social Security provides 40% of all retiree’s income
  • 12-15 million Americans need long term care now
  • Between 65 and 70% of women work outside the home
  • Divorce rates are on the rise – 1 out of 2 marriages end in divorce
  • 25% of baby boomers don’t have children
  • Family members can live across town & the country

Expert Home Care invites women in New Jersey to learn how better care for themselves in the future. Call Michael FitzPatrick at (973) 394-0053 or visit THE LTC Partnership at www.theltcpartnership.com.

 

Long-Term Care Insurance – New Jersey Seniors Home Care

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Expert Home & Live-in Care for seniors and elders in New Jersey. Call us for help at 800-848-2336.

Retired Couples Will Need Average of $85,000 for Long-Term Care Insurance Premiums – to cover the rising costs of care.

A 65-year-old couple today will need $85,000 on average to cover annual premiums for long-term care insurance, according to a new study by the financial services firm Fidelity Investments.

To come up with the estimate, Fidelity surveyed insurers offering long-term care policies, which cover visits by caregivers or stays in a nursing home. The study supplements a survey the company completed in March 2008 estimating a couple retiring this year would need $225,000 in savings to cover total medical costs in retirement. The costs for long-term care insurance are in addition to the $225,000.

About 5 million Americans have long-term care insurance, a number that has not increased much over the last decade, said Joan Bloom, senior vice president for Fidelity’s life insurance group, which distributes long-term care insurance issued by an unaffiliated firm, Genworth Financial.

Bloom said people should consider buying long-term care insurance in their 50s because policies generally cost less the earlier they are purchased.

A 65-year-old couple needs $85,000 on average to cover insurance costs for long-term care such as nursing home stays in retirement, according to a study to be released today by Fidelity Investments.

The finding underscores the need to financially prepare for the possibility of eventually needing assistance to get by – a burden that often falls on elders’ adult children, who can jeopardize their own finances by caring for an ailing parent while finding they must cut their work hours.

Setting aside adequate savings heading into retirement can help defuse family tensions should physical or mental illness hit parents who slowly realize they can no longer perform tasks such as household chores, or bathe or dress on their own.

“If you plan adequately and you have the ability to pay for assistance, in whatever form that might be, it makes it easier on everybody if you can do that,” said Kathleen Kelly, executive director of the Family Caregiver Alliance, a nonprofit agency in San Francisco that helps families cope with adults’ disabilities. “Families really want to do the right thing, but there are so many pressures on them.”

Read the full story at San Francisco Chronicle.

Elder Care at Home NJ

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Nursing Homes – Five-Star Rating System delivered to you by Elder Law Answers!
 
Elders and Seniors in NJ can eat at a five star restaurant or stay at a five star hotel. By year’s end, you’ll also be able to select a five star nursing home.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced plans to implement a one  to five star rating system for nursing homes to help consumers in New Jersey evaluate a nursing home’s quality when selecting a facility. The ratings would appear on the agency’s Nursing Home Compare Web site.

CMS will base the ratings on government inspection results and the staff data and quality measures. It is yet to be determined – if the ratings will include patients with dementia or those on ventilators.

CMS Administrator Kerry Weems believes the public is hungry for this type of information. And he adds, “lower ratings will likely put nursing homes on the path to improvement . . . I don’t think we’re going to see many people who are very anxious to put a loved one in a one star home.”

But the new rating system was criticized both by consumer advocates and the nursing home industry, for different reasons.

A senior policy attorney with the Center for Medicare Advocacy, Toby Edelman, said that two of three criteria CMS plans to use for the ratings like staffing data and quality measures are “self reported by nursing facilities and are inaccurate.” Edelman said, “Relying on nursing homes to describe accurately how well they are doing . . . just doesn’t make sense”

The president of the American Health Care Association, Bruce Yarwood, a long term care industry trade group, criticized CMS’s use of government inspection results as criteria for the ratings and said CMS should consider consumer and staff satisfaction.

If you want your elder or senior living in New Jersey to continue living at home go to Expert Home Care and call us at 800-848-2336.

Live-in Home Care Seniors – New Jersey Elders Sleep Better

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Expert Home Care helps aging seniors in New Jersey Live-in care, Elder care, & Senior home care in NJ  800-848-2336.

New Jersey Expert Home Care in Somerville, Red Bank, Lakewood, Hackettstown, Ridgewood, Princeton, Trenton, Flemington, Morristown, Wayne.

Social historians say Americans are sleeping less. In the 18th and 19th centuries, people averaged 9.5 hours of sleep a night. Today, people in the U.S. sleep an average of 7.5 hours. In Canada, the average is 8.2 hours.
There is no formula for how much sleep is enough for you. Some people need ten hours, and some get along fine on six. But, one thing that is certain for everyone is that not getting enough sleep takes a toll on one’s mental health.

The loss of a night’s sleep results in irritability, fatigue and mood shifts. It undermines creativity, flexibility, originality, and the ability to deal with unfamiliar situations.

How can you make up for lost sleep? Don’t try to do it with a long afternoon nap. That can cause insomnia, and another miserable day tomorrow. Rather, experts say, you should go to sleep 15 or 20 minutes earlier each week until you are sleeping enough to eliminate daytime sleepiness.

The demands of jobs, community, and family can make it difficult to get enough rest, but the quality of sleep can also help to make up the difference. That means that if you get six hours of good sleep it is better than eight hours of interrupted or poor sleep.

Here are some tips on how to get restful sleep:

  • Try to eliminate noise and light.
  • Keep regular hours.
  • Cut down on stimulants like caffeine.
  • Don’t go to bed stuffed or starved.
  • Develop a nightly ritual that sends signals to your body that it’s time to sleep.
  • Sleep on a good mattress.

Regular exercise can also help relieve both physical and mental tension – as long as you don’t exercise too close to bedtime and help prepare your body for a good night’s sleep: that magical state of non-consciousness your body uses to restore itself.

Expert Home Care Live-in care, Elder care, & Senior home care in NJ  800-848-2336.

Seniors Citizens – Sleep Problems – New Jersey

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Expert Home Care when your aging seniors in New Jersey needs live-in care, elder care, or senior home care in NJ  800-848-2336.

“Mr. Sandman” Often Overlooks The Elderly in New Jersey

For many older people, getting a good night’s sleep can be a challenge. While for some, going to sleep is as easy as crawling under the covers and turning off the light, scientists are learning that more than half of the elderly have difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep.

Many well documented studies suggest that altered sleep patterns are a normal part of aging. Some studies suggest that the elderly produce less of the so called sleep hormone, melatonin, than they did when they were younger. Some evidence supports the view that those elderly individuals who complain of sleep problems have lower melatonin levels than other individuals who are the same age and who get better sleep at night.

Conversely, still other studies indicate that melatonin levels do not diminish as individuals age. Doctors are still trying to determine just how useful melatonin treatment could be for those over age 65 who experience sleep problems. Here are some suggestions from sleep experts that could help you improve your quality of sleep.

  • Stay active – Many studies have shown that exercise can be helpful for people 50 to 78 to regulate their sleep. Even getting enough sunlight during the late afternoon can help, too.
  • Avoid alcohol and caffeine – Having a cup of coffee after supper, or a few drinks before bed, can really affect your sleep. Alcohol might make you feel sleepy at first, but it actually makes it difficult for you to stay asleep and rest.
  • Take short naps – Daytime naps are okay as long as you limit them to 30 minutes or less. If you find it difficult to get the sleep you need, you should discuss the topic with your doctor. “Mr. Sandman” may be passing you by, but that needn’t rob you of the benefits of a good night’s sleep.

Do you have problems getting a full night’s sleep? How did you overcome “Mr. Sandman’s” absence? Please share your stories, we’d like to hear them!

To learn more about the type of care Expert Home Care in New Jersey offers seniors and elders choosing to live at home, giver us a call 800-848-2336.

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New Jersey Senior Live In Care Features Elder Law, Estate & Elder Care Planning

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Expert Home Care – A New Jersey Senior Care, Elder Care, and Live-In Home care agency sponsors a Live Focus on Senior Radio program on wsRadio.com. Hosts are David Goodman, President of Expert Home Care New Jersey and Frank Esposito, Vice President of Expert Home Care New Jersey.

You are invited to listen to our host, Frank Esposito, interview Donald Vanarelli, Esq., certified elder law attorney and co-founder of the Elder Mediation Center of New Jersey. The topic of the radio interview is Elder Law Mediation (click to listen). Don Vanarelli explains the circumstances that make elder law mediation a viable option for resolving disputes between family members over care, finances, independence and other issues involving elderly parents.

What is elder mediation?

Mr. Vanarelli explains that mediation is primarily for family members to find resolution when helping aging parents become a topic of family dispute, “when family members are unable to hear one another and find resolution on hard elder care issues, mediation can help find agreement between family members,” says Don Vanarelli.

Some of those hard elder care issues are:

  • Housing Issues
  • Power of Attorney
  • Guardianship
  • Family caregiving – scheduling sibling’s time committments and responsibilities
  • Finding in-home help for aging relative or parent
  • Living arrangements
  • Healthcare Issues & planning
  • Estate Planning
  • Finances
  • Medical Treatments

It’s best to come to resolution before filing a lawsuit, going to court, and having the judge make decisions for the family. If you are in dispute over any of the issues listed above or maybe another hard elder care concern, you might consider going to a professional like an elder law attorney to get resolution before your family comes to an impasse. It’s always better to keep the lines of communication open, especially when seeking soltutions that are best for your mom and dad.

Donald Vanarelli, Esq., certified elder law attorney points out in the radio interview some of the benefits you, a family as a whole, receives from mediation:

  • Siblings come together in the same room – this may be the first time in years if family siblings live in different states.
  • You get to experience sibling’s body language and make eye contact
  • You may also view your parent’s reactions, physical responses
  • Walk away with problems resolved, next steps to take, and have specific, clear action items for each family member to do/take

Listen now and hear if family mediation is right for you: Elder Law Mediation.  Brought to you by Expert Home Care New Jersey, the leader in New Jersey elder & senior live-in home care.

Call us for senior live-in help today, 800-848-2336 or contact Expert Home Care New Jersey.

Live in & Elder Care in New Jersey – Sleep is Important for Seniors

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Expert Home Care provides elder, senior, and live-in care for New Jersey’s aging population.

Call us at 800-848-2336

Most seniors agree that when it comes to a good night’s sleep, they want quality sleep not the quantity not more hours of sleep. The ole adage.. more in not better, only more! Even if you are not a senior, you still need a certain amount of sleep in order to function well in daily activities. As many of us experience from time to time, how “well” or the quality of sleep you get affects you too.

In our busy lives, sleep very often is compromised. Sleep is critically important to your health. It’s interesting for us to learn that a brain’s activity is present even when it’s sleeping! There are different stages during sleep and they are necessary in order to feel well rested and energetic the next day. Research shows us that other stages of sleep helps with learning and creating memories.

Most adults need between seven and eight hours of sleep each night. And school aged children require at least nine, preschoolers between 10-12 and newborns 16-18 hours. While the common belief is that older people require less sleep, there is no proof to substantiate that. As we age, there is a tendency to spend less time in the deep, restful stages of sleep. Older people are more easily awakened and have difficulty returning to sleep.

Frequent awakenings can affect how well rested you will feel in the morning – the quality of sleep. This can affect your mood as well the ability to think clearly, react quickly, and creatively problem solve. Our relationships can suffer too when sleep is compromised. It also affects our immune system adversely leaving us vulnerable to infection and illness.

In tomorrow’s post, we will address “how to get” a better night’s sleep. Or maybe you would care to leave your comment below, if you’ve found tips for sleeping that helps you awaken each morning feeling rested and ready to go.

Call Expert Home Care today 800-848-2336, if you need help with your aging relative.Â